An electric grid is the distribution platform created by interconnecting energy production facilities, transmission lines and power transformers so that utility companies have a means of delivering electricity from suppliers to consumers. The electric grid is an electric company's domain, and in recent years the emergence of smart grid technology has given electric companies real-time visibility and control over every part of that domain—from the energy production facility all the way to the electric meter in a customer's back yard. Smart grids have resulted in more efficient management of the production, distribution and price of energy.
In order to further optimize the efficiency with which energy is produced, distributed and priced, energy consumption data from beyond the electric meter (e.g., from inside a consumer's household) can be useful to electric utilities. Unfortunately, the inside of a home or business falls outside of the domain that an electric company controls.